The Head of the Police’s Investigations Branch, Maj.-Gen. Yoav Segalovich, gave his stamp of approval Sunday to police investigators’ recommendation to file criminal charges against Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. The recommendation now goes to the Chief Prosecutor and the Attorney General, who are expected to indict Lieberman.
The investigation against Lieberman began in April 2006, and is part of a larger, eight-year investigation that is one of the longest ever against an Israeli politician. The investigation was accompanied by the Prosecution’s Financial Department.
'NIS 10 million in bribes'
Investigators located transfers of funds in millions of shekels to companies abroad and to bank accounts in Cyprus that were under Lieberman’s control. They believe that Lieberman created a network of front companies that were headed by people he trusted in order to receive bribes and launder money. They also believe that he changed the names of companies when he sensed that police were on his trail – an act that they say constitutes an attempt to obstruct justice. Police reportedly believe Lieberman received a total of more than NIS 10 million in bribes.
The offenses Lieberman is suspected of carry maximum sentences of three to 10 years in jail.
Lieberman: Police are after me
Lieberman reacted to the announcement Sunday by accusing the police of a political motive. “The police have been chasing after me for the past 13 years,” he said, “and the more my political power grows, and the power of ‘Israel Our Home’ rises, so the efforts to remove me from public activity intensify.”
“There was no real reason to open the investigation against me and if the suspicions had been well-grounded, the investigation would not have lasted more than a decade,” he noted.
Police also recommended charging Lieberman's former attorney, Yoav Mani, as well as Sharon Shalom, a former campaign manager for Israel Our Home. The also interrogated Lieberman’s daughter, Michal, but did not recommend filing charges against her.
Will he resign?
Lieberman may decide to resign as Foreign Minister if criminal charges are flied against him. However, even if he does, he may opt to leave the Foreign Ministry in his party's hands. Another possibility that has been floated is that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will give the foreign ministry to Likud minister Silvan Shalom, who covets it and has held it in the past.